Selective security masking within recorded speech

ABSTRACT

A marker is derived from an interaction between a person and an agent of a business and the agent&#39;s user interface. A part of a speech signal that corresponds to a portion of the person&#39;s special information is located with the marker. The speech signal results from the interaction between the person and the agent. The part of the speech signal that corresponds to the portion of the person&#39;s special information is rendered unintelligible.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/477,899 filed on Jun. 28, 2006 publication No. 2008/0037719, toDoren, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this patentapplication. This patent application is related to commonly assignedU.S. patent application publication No. 2007/0016419, to Lee et al.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to limiting access toinformation and, more specifically, to apparatuses and methods used tocontrol access to information residing in voice recordings.

2. Background

Personal information is routinely collected during transactions inmodern society. Recordings of conversations are made in a variety ofsituations such as customer-agent interactions during contacts withinthe context of call centers, emergency service interactions (911 calls,etc.), and a myriad of other transactions that require information toflow from one entity to another.

During these transactions, personal information such as social securitynumbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, personalidentification numbers (PIN), names, addresses, club numbers, frequentflier numbers, etc. is sensitive and can harm the person to whom theinformation pertains if the information is misused. This can present aproblem.

Such sensitive information can be stored in a variety of locations ortransferred to other parties for various reasons, all of which can placethe information at risk of compromise by others. Hackers have becomeproficient at compromising databases, which house such sensitiveinformation. Accounts can be pilfered, the identity of an individual canbe stolen, and the individual can be placed in physical harm byunscrupulous actors. This can present a problem.

Information collected during the business transactions mentioned abovecan be transferred to entities for analysis. It has become a widespreadbusiness practice to record calls between customers and agents of abusiness during business transactions. Such recorded information isoften times transferred to a party for analysis. An example is thequality review of a recording that contains personal information. Whileit is the intent of the data owner to transfer the data to a party foranalysis, it is often the case that the party should not have access tothe personal information contained within a transaction. This canpresent a problem.

Current attempts at securing sensitive information within recordedconversations or recorded speech have been directed to manuallymonitoring the speech and then subsequently deleting the sensitiveinformation. Such a practice can be expensive in light of the volume ofsuch data that is currently being created. Such manual censoring ofrecorded conversations and speech is not economically practical to meetall of the current need in the marketplace. This can present a problem.

Data which is considered sensitive, personal, confidential, or thatshould otherwise be secured from recognition can vary from one businessto another. For example, in a medical context where a disease should bekept separate from a patient's name and address, the patient's name andaddress are considered to be the sensitive information that should notbe readily available to others apart from the data owner. Conversely, amedical context can require that the disease be considered to besensitive information. In some settings, such as in financial servicesettings, the customer's name and address are not necessarily thesensitive information, rather it is typically the customer's accountnumber, personal identification number (PIN), etc. that is consideredsensitive and should be secured. Variability of what is sensitiveinformation, within a setting and from one setting to another,complicates handling sensitive information since a uniform definition ofsensitive information does not exist. This can present a problem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by referring to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrateembodiments of the invention. The invention is illustrated by way ofexample in the embodiments and is not limited in the figures of theaccompanying drawings in which like references indicate similarelements.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for processing speech signals and/or voicerecordings, according to embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system in whichembodiments of the invention can be implemented.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network environment in which embodiments of theinvention can be implemented.

FIG. 4 illustrates various architectures for implementing embodiments ofthe invention.

FIG. 5 displays utilizing a marker according to embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 6 illustrates processing a speech signal according to embodimentsof the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates correlating activity in a user interface with specialinformation according to embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 8 depicts activity in a user interface according to embodiments ofthe invention.

FIG. 9 shows monitoring a user interface according to embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 10 depicts monitoring in a WINDOWS® environment according toembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates reprocessing a voice recording according toembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates information and value flow according to embodimentsof the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention,reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which like referencesindicate similar elements and in which are shown by way ofillustrations, specific embodiments in which the invention may bepracticed. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail toenable those of skill in the art to practice the invention. In otherinstances, well-known circuits, structures, and techniques have not beenshown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of thisdescription. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to betaken in a limiting sense and the scope of the invention is defined onlyby the appended claims.

Apparatuses and methods are described to secure information containedwithin voice recordings.

FIG. 1 illustrates, generally at 100, a system for processing speechsignals and/or voice recordings, according to embodiments of theinvention. With reference to FIG. 1, a person 102 or 104, capable ofmaking a voice utterance, interacts with a business entity 110. Theinteraction utilizes a communications device, such as an audiocommunications device 103 and a communications network 108 tocommunicate with a business entity 110. The person 102 or 104 (one of aplurality of m people) controls the system 100 by initiating aninteraction with the communications device (e.g., 103); thereby,providing a signal 116 containing information to the business entity110. Note that the system 100 can be controlled simultaneously be morethan one person (i.e., a plurality of m people), since it is often thecase that a number of people, represented by 102 or 104 can be incommunication simultaneously with the business entity 110. Acommunications device 106 can include wireless functionality at variouspoints along a path between the person 104 and the business entity 110.Wireless functionality can include, but is not limited to, personal areanetwork(s), cellular telephone network(s), satellite telephonenetwork(s), etc. The system 100 is capable of simultaneous control by mpeople as illustrated by the architecture shown in FIG. 1.

In a broad implementation within system 100, a general number of mpeople interact with a general number of n agents of B businesses. Nolimitation is implied by FIG. 1 and it will be noted that FIG. 1 isscalable to accommodate any number of m people interacting with n agentsof B businesses. For clarity during this description of embodiments,examples are given with reference to a person and a business entity;however, it will be noted that no limitation is implied by suchreference.

As used herein, the term “business entity” is afforded broad meaning andcan take on a variety of forms, wherein a variety of goods and/orservices can be provided to a person by a business entity. The term“business entity” is described more fully below.

The business entity 110 often provides personnel, who represent thebusiness and are commonly referred to as “agents.” An “agent” is usuallyequipped with a workstation 112. The workstation 112 can include a dataprocessing system that includes an information display 114 as well as asystem for producing a voice recording from the interaction that occursbetween a person and the business entity 110. A dataprocessing/telecommunications system can be employed for the workstation112; examples of such systems are described below in conjunction withFIG. 2. Without loss of generality, hence forth in this description ofembodiments, the business entity 110 will be referred to alternativelyas “business entity” or “agent.” No limitation is implied thereby,“agent” is to be afforded broad meaning and includes any person orautomated system authorized to represent the business when interactingwith people.

Terms such as “person,” “people,” “human(s),” “customer(s),” “caller”are also to be afforded broad meaning and include without limitationcustomers of the business, both present and potential customers, as wellas employees and agents of the business who engage in transactions withthe business.

In general, a person is considered to be a repository of specialinformation; some of this special information comes into the possessionof the business entity during an interaction between the person and thebusiness entity. This special information can be referred to aspersonal, private, confidential, sensitive, secret, etc. The term usedto label the special information does not limit embodiments of theinvention described herein.

Labels such as “personal,” “private,” “confidential,” “sensitive,” etc.are used within different settings to describe special information towhich access should be limited. It will be explained further below thatspecial information in one case may not be identical with specialinformation in another case. Hence, exactly what information is to beconsidered “special” is defined by the context of use (use-case) and iscovered within embodiments of the invention.

An interaction results in one or more utterances being made during aconversation between a person, such as 102 or 104 and the businessentity 110. Recording equipment is used to make a voice recording of theutterances made during the interaction between the caller and businessentity. A business agent's workstation 112 can include voice recording,telecommunications, and data processing system resources, which aredescribed more fully below in conjunction with FIG. 2. The dataprocessing resources can include an information display 114 on whichinformation obtained during the course of the conversation is entered bythe agent (not shown) of the business. Alternatively, a data processingresource 118 can provide automated conversations with the person 102 or104 functioning as an “electronic agent” of the business entity 110.

Activity derived from the agent's workstation 112, during theinteraction with the person may be used to process a speech signalcontained within a voice recording or a speech signal that isdynamically received (input) into a system in real-time or nearreal-time. Note however, that such cases of real-time and near real-timedo not impose limitations and are used as examples, in this descriptionof embodiments. As used in this description of embodiments, “processing”renders special information pertaining to the person unintelligible. Theprocessed voice recording 120 is then capable of being transferred tothird parties at 122, thereby preventing a third party from accessingthe special information. The voice recording can be processed to renderunintelligible the special information at a variety of places, forexample, within the agent's workstation 112, within a data processingresource 118 or within a data processing resource 124. Dataprocessing/telecommunications resources are described more fully belowin conjunction with FIG. 2.

As mentioned above, an interaction between a person and a businessentity can occur in a variety of ways, within which information flows.Many contacts between a person and a business entity occur in thecontext of communications utilizing electronic means, such as atelephone, a cellular telephone, a microphone, a computer, and voiceover Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology, etc. Assisted by suchcommunication systems, two people, more than two people or at least oneperson and an automated system can carry on a conversation, where oneperson or automated system propounds questions and the other responds tothe questions. During the conversation, special information is utteredby the person, generally in reply to questions or prompts from anotherperson or automated system representing the business entity. A liveperson or automated system representing the business entity can beconsidered an interface of the business entity. In another example, aninteraction occurs in a setting where a business entity provides anautomated interface to interact with human customers. In such a setting,a human contacts a business entity and encounters an automated interfaceor system interface that propounds a series of questions which elicitanswers from the human. The answers can contain special informationpertaining to the human.

FIG. 2 illustrates, generally at 200, a block diagram of a computersystem 201, which has been referred to variously above as a dataprocessing system, a telecommunications system, and/or a voice recordingsystem, with which embodiments of the invention can be implemented. Theblock diagram is a high level conceptual representation and may beimplemented in a variety of ways and by various architectures. A bussystem 202 interconnects a processor, also known as a Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) 204, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 206, a Random Access Memory(RAM) 208, a storage 210, a display 220, an audio 222, a keyboard 224, apointer 226, miscellaneous input/output (I/O) devices 228,communications 230 and optional voice recording systems 240-a, 240-b,and 240-c. The bus system 202 may be for example, one or more of suchbuses as a system bus, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), AdvancedGraphics Port (AGP), Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard number 1394(FireWire), Universal Serial Bus (USB), etc. The CPU 204 may be asingle, multiple, or even a distributed computing resource. Storage 210may be Compact Disc (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), hard disks (HD),optical disks, tape, flash, memory sticks, video recorders, etc. Thedisplay 220 can be, for example, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, aflat panel type of display, a touch screen display, a display with voiceactivated fields, etc. Note that depending upon the actualimplementation of a computer system, the computer system may includesome, all, more, or a rearrangement of components in the block diagram.It will be noted by those of skill in the art that the functionality ofany of the voice recording systems 240-a, 240-b or 240-c can be providedby other components of the computer system 201. This means that acomputer system 201 can be configured to record voice data without adedicated system indicated explicitly as 240-a, 240-b, or 240-c. Thus,many variations on the system of FIG. 2 are possible.

In various embodiments, a pointing device such as a stylus is used inconjunction with a touch screen, for example, via 220, thereby allowingan agent to input data through a user interface that is presented to theagent on the display 220 as facilitated by a software program that isexecuted by the processor 204. Alternatively, the agent can input datautilizing the keyboard 224 and/or a pointing device 226. A “mouse” is anexample of a commonly known pointing device. Alternatively, the softwareprogram can be configured to provide a voice activated field(s) withinthe user interface that is presented to the agent on the display 220.Audio input from the agent can be received utilizing the audio 222. Sucha user interface configured for voice activation or voice prompt can beuseful when an agent is physically challenged and cannot accomplish datainput using a keyboard, a mouse. Note that voice functionality can alsobe useful to a user who is not physically challenged, such functionalitycan enhance the user friendliness of a user interface in general.

Connection with a network is obtained via 232 and 230, as is recognizedby those of skill in the art, which enables the data processing device201 to communicate with other data processing devices in remotelocations. For example a voice recording system 240-b can be connectedat 234 to communications 230, thereby allowing the voice recordingsystem 240-b to have communications with the computer system 201. Avoice recording system 240-a can be connected at 238 via a miscellaneousinput/output device 228, thereby allowing the voice recording system240-a to have communications with the computer system 201. It isunderstood that “communications” between the computer system 201 and anyof the voice recording systems can represent a one-way flow ofinformation or a bidirectional flow of information.

FIG. 3 illustrates, generally at 300, a network environment in whichembodiments of the invention can be implemented. The network environment300 has a network 302 that permits “H” humans, 308-1 through 308-H tocommunicate with “B” businesses 304-1 through 304-B. One or more dataprocessing devices (computer systems), as previously described in FIG. 1and/or FIG. 2, are resident at, or in communication with, each businesslocation, i.e., 304-1 through 304-B. One or more of the data processingdevices can be referred to as servers and one or more of the dataprocessing devices can function as “electronic agents.” One or more ofthe businesses 304-1 through 304-B can be connected to each other via anetwork 302, which may be, for example, a corporate based network. Notethat alternatively the network 302 might be or include one or more of:the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN),satellite link, fiber network, cable network, or a combination of theseand/or others. Resident at each business location or at other points inthe network, the servers may represent, for example, disk storagesystems alone or storage and computing resources. Likewise, one or morevoice recording systems 310 can be located within the businesses 304-1through 304-B or one or more voice recording systems, such as 312, canbe accessible to one or more businesses via the network 302. The methodsand apparatuses described herein may be applied to essentially any typeof communicating means or device whether local or remote, such as a LAN,a WAN, a system bus, etc.

Referring back to FIG. 1, at 122 the modified or processed voicerecording(s) is available to be used by people or entities who are notsupposed to have access to the human's special information. Renderingsegments of the voice recording unintelligible (whether in analog ordigital form or in a textual representation of the voice recording) canoccur in a variety of ways, some of which are reversible and others ofwhich are not reversible. Rendering unintelligible will be describedbelow in more detail in conjunction with the figures that follow.

Alternatively, or in addition to the processing described above, thevoice recording can be associated with an identifier (metadata). Theidentifier can indicate that special information either is or is notcontained within the voice recording. The identifier can contain variouselements of metadata, such as data that indicates how the specialinformation has been processed. For example, the identifier can indicatethat the special information has been encrypted, deleted, masked, etc.The identifier can provide information relative to the use-case underwhich the voice recording was obtained, the data owner, the datacustodian, etc. Identifiers can also indicate that a voice recording is“clean,” i.e., free of special information relative to a particularuse-case.

As mentioned above, a business entity can take on a variety of forms.Embodiments of the invention are not limited by a form of a businessentity and the examples of business entities provided herein do notlimit embodiments of the invention. The examples of business entitiesgiven herein are provided for illustration purposes only and it isexpected that embodiments of the invention will be applicable tobusiness entities that are as of yet unknown.

For example, one form of business entity is the retail or wholesaleestablishment providing goods and/or services to customers. Examplesinclude but are not limited to entertainments services (gambling,sports, etc.); financial services (banking, investment, etc.); realestate and related services, transportation providers such as train,plane, boat, etc.; insurance; hard goods; soft goods; services such ascleaning, maintenance, etc. Another area is professional services, suchas organizations that dispense medical or legal services to patients,clients, callers, etc. Yet another area is providers of public services,such as emergency services summoned through 911 calls, municipalservices, social services, such as but not limited to variousdepartments of health and human services (DHHS), departments of healthand family services (DHFS), local, state, and federal governmentoffices, agencies, etc. In still other cases the goods and/or servicescan be user defined for a particular situation.

Each of the business entities described above represents a use-case(some represent the same use-case, others represent a differentuse-case), in which a suite of special information is established. Thelogical setting of the use-case together with applicable laws willinfluence the information that is considered to be special and to whichaccess will be restricted by the system within appropriate embodimentsof the invention. Embodiments of the invention are applicable touse-cases which are both presently known and unknown. As used herein,“use-case” refers broadly to a scenario wherein special informationpertaining to a user is obtained.

Entry of a person's special information into a field of a user interfaceoccurs within a window of time. A typical scenario that describes theprocess begins with an agent (for example, a live person or an“electronic agent”) propounding a question to a person, such as “Can Ihave your social security number please?” The person speaks in reply tothe question and the agent begins to input the answer spoken by theperson. A marker is then correlated with the entry of such specialinformation. For example, a marker can correspond to any time or timescoherently associated with the window of time corresponding to the entryof the special information. Such times include, but are not limited to,the beginning of the entry, the end of the entry, and any timethere-between or related thereto. An example of a time related theretois an offset in time from the window of time corresponding to the entryof the special information, etc. It will be noted that a typical sessionbetween a person and an agent, during such an interaction, will resultin a plurality of utterances of special information. Therefore, it is tobe expected that a series of markers will be created and used to renderunintelligent a series of segments within a voice recording between theperson and the agent.

FIG. 4 illustrates various architectures, generally at 400, forimplementing embodiments of the invention. With reference to FIG. 4, ablock 402 represents an integrated agent software/hardware applicationthat produces a processed voice recording, thus rendering a person'sspecial information unintelligible. In various embodiments, fields on auser interface that correspond to a person's special information areused to create “markers” when an agent takes action that is associatedtherewith. For example, the beginning of entry of special informationinto such a field establishes a “marker.” The marker is related to thetime of entry of the special information. The marker is used by theintegrated agent software/hardware application to mark a section of thevoice recording for processing. Processing renders unintelligible, thesection of the voice recording associated with the marker Note that anintegrated agent software/hardware application has the times ofoccurrences of events readily available for use in processing a voicerecording. Such a situation is most readily obtained when an applicationprogram has been designed to associate input events (e.g., keystroke andmouse locations) with their corresponding times of occurrence and thetime bases used for the data input and the recording system are eitherthe same or the relationship between them is known.

Architecture shown at 425 can be used, in various embodiments, toprocess voice recordings when a configuration of agent equipment(software/hardware) does not place the data input system in commoncontrol with the voice recording system. At 425 a legacy agentapplication (software and/or hardware) 404 provides for the input ofspecial information and creates a marker(s) associated therewith. Themarker(s) is passed via 406 to a voice recording system and the voicerecording is processed 408 utilizing the marker to render the person'sspecial information unintelligible.

In a configuration of agent equipment that does not associate data inputevents (e.g., keystroke and mouse movement) with their correspondingtimes of occurrence, architecture as shown at 450 is used, in variousembodiments, to establish the corresponding times of occurrence. Thetimes of occurrence 416 are obtained by monitoring activity in a legacyagent application 412. The times of occurrence 418 are used to processthe voice recording 420 in order to render the special informationunintelligible. A legacy agent application 412 is used by an agent toenter information obtained during a conversation with a person. Such alegacy application is hosted by a system such as shown in FIG. 2 at 201.A monitor application 410 is also hosted by the system shown in FIG. 2at 201. The monitor application 410 is used to obtain the times 416 thatcorrespond with the entry of special information pertaining to theperson. The times or “markers,” 416, so obtained, are passed via 418 toprocess the voice recording and to render unintelligible the specialinformation that pertains to the person at 420. Processing the specialinformation within the voice recording can be performed by the monitorapplication 410, another application or the processing can be performedby another data processing system as described above in conjunction withthe preceding figures. For example, the processing can be performed atremote locations by means of the network connections and/or at one ormore sites remote or local to the business entity that hosted the agentapplication.

Throughout this description of embodiments, both a speech signalcontained within a voice recording as well as a speech signaldynamically input into a system can be processed to render a person'sspecial information unintelligible. For example, in the case of a speechsignal input into a system, the speech signal can be processed beforethe voice recording is created. Such processing can be performed forexample, in real-time or near real-time, note however that either ofthese cases imply no limitation on embodiments of the invention. In thiscase, a marker is used to start or to stop processing the speech signal,thereby creating a voice recording that has at least some of theperson's special information rendered unintelligible.

FIG. 5 displays, generally at 500, utilizing a marker according toembodiments of the invention. With reference to FIG. 5, at a block 502 amarker is assigned to special information that is obtained from a personduring an interaction with an agent possibly in conjunction withactivity in a user interface. At a block 504 the marker is used toidentify special information within the voice recording of theinteraction. At a block 506, the part of the voice recordingcorresponding to the special information uttered by the person, duringthe interaction, is rendered unintelligible.

Rendering unintelligible can be accomplished by recording a maskingsignal either over a segment(s) of the original voice recording in thelocation of the utterance(s) of special information so identified or byrecording the masking signal in place of or mixed with a segment(s) of aspeech signal, as the speech signal is input into a system. In variousexamples, a noise signal [white noise, pink noise, tone, zero amplitudesignal (erase), etc.] is recorded, over, in place of, or mixed with thesegment of the voice recording rendering the special informationunintelligible. In another example, the segment of the voice recordingcorresponding to the utterance of special information is encrypted torender the utterance of special information unintelligible. Encryptioncan be reversed (decrypted) with a key if desired. Encryption anddecryption are described in more detail below in figures that follow.

It will be noted that either an analog or a digital representation ofthe voice recording can be processed to render unintelligible thespecial information contained therein. Additionally, as described above,a textual representation of a voice recording can be processed to renderunintelligible the elements of text that correspond with the segments ofspecial information contained therein.

As an alternative, or in addition to the processes described inconjunction with the block 506, the voice recording can be associatedwith an identifier. The identifier can indicate that special informationeither is or is not contained within the voice recording. In variousembodiments, the identifier can be configured to assist in providing thefunctionality described above in conjunction with the discussion in FIG.1 above.

FIG. 6 illustrates processing a speech signal according to embodimentsof the invention. With reference to FIG. 6, a speech signal 600 containsboth special information pertaining to a person as well as informationthat is not special and hence will not be rendered unintelligible. Asegment 610 a of a speech signal is displayed as a waveform along ahorizontal axis 604 that corresponds to “time” and along a vertical axis602 that corresponds to “amplitude.” A part of the speech signal withinthe segment 610 a contains the special information, e.g., [980238934],which can correspond to a credit card number, a personal identificationnumber, account number, etc. A marker, created as described above inconjunction with the preceding figures, is used to process a part of thespeech signal. For example, a first marker could be associated with thebeginning of entry of special information into a particular field of auser interface; such a marker is indicated at 612. A second marker canbe associated with an end of entry of special information into thefield. The first and second markers can be used to establish a windowindicated at 608.

For the purpose of this example, the special information containedwithin a part of the speech signal indicated by the window 608 is shownas [0238934] in 600. The entire quantum of special information containedin the voice recording (speech signal) that corresponds with entry ofspecial information into the field is [980238934] in 600. The segment610 a of the speech signal is processed to render the portion of thespeech signal within the window 608 unintelligible. The processed speechsignal is displayed in 625 as 610 b.

Alternatively, a single marker can be used to define a window used toprocess a part of the speech signal. For example, following adetermination that an agent is getting ready, is ready, or is enteringinformation into a particular field of a user interface, such as acredit card field, a length of a window can be set from a prioriknowledge of how long it takes for an average person to utter a responseto a question propounded by an agent. For example, if a credit cardnumber was requested, the next twelve (12) seconds of a speech signalcan be assumed to be an utterance of special information in response tothe prompt. In another example, following a prompt for a Social Securitynumber, the next eight (8) seconds of a voice recording (speech signal)can be assumed to be an utterance of special information in response tothe prompt. Thus, in various embodiments, a quantum of specialinformation can be processed and rendered unintelligible by defining asingle marker and setting a time window relative to the marker or bydefining multiple markers.

Note that the embodiments of the invention presented herein can beimplemented in a variety of languages. The descriptions presented hereinutilize the English language; however, other languages such as Spanish,Russian, etc. are readily implemented as well. Embodiments of theinvention are not limited to a particular language. The times mentionedabove i.e., twelve (12) seconds to utter a credit card number and eight(8) seconds to utter a Social Security number can be different forpeople speaking the same language (i.e., fast talkers or slow talkers)and the times can be different in embodiments of the inventionconfigured for languages other than English.

Markers can be created in various ways, one way described above which isbased on the beginning of entry of confidential information into thefield by the agent might have a latency period associated therewith. Thelatency period can result since a person will usually begin to speak andthen after a period of time an agent will begin to enter informationinto a field in response to the speaking. In one embodiment, thislatency period can be accounted for by building into a system an offset,the offset is used to process an additional portion of a speech signal,thereby capturing the entire utterance of special information.

An example of including an offset (also referred to as a guard band) ina procedure used to process a portion of a voice recording (speechsignal) associated with the onset of speaking is shown at 650 in FIG. 6.An offset is indicated at 606 c. A part of the voice recording (speechsignal) corresponding to an offset 606 c is also processed along withthe part of the voice recording (speech signal) corresponding to thewindow 608 to render unintelligible the entire number, e.g., [980238934]as indicated by a segment of the speech signal 610 c. The guard band(offset 606 c) captured the portion of the speech signal that contained“98” which could correspond to the amount of the speech signal that wasomitted due to a speaking latency.

In the dynamic input case, in one embodiment, the offset can beaccomplished by buffering the input speech signal to create a time delayfor real-time or near real-time processing. The signal is then renderedunintelligible and recorded to create a voice recording.

The window 608 can also be extended beyond the length shown in FIG. 6with a trailing guard band i.e. 614 c. However, in the case of speakinglatencies it will usually be the case that an agent is still typingafter a person has finished speaking, therefore an extension of thelength of the window 608 would most likely result in processing silence.

In a voice recording created during an interaction between a person anda business entity, the process described above is repeated throughoutthe voice recording to render unintelligible the parts of the voicerecording that correspond to utterances of special information thatpertain to the person. There is no limit on the number of parts of thevoice recording that can be processed. The amount of processing willdepend on the particular use-case of interest.

It will be noted that it is not always necessary to renderunintelligible the exact words or the exact numbers uttered by a personwhen an utterance of special information occurs. For example, thenumbers shown under the window 608 at 600 might not include all of thenumbers that comprise for example a social security number or a creditcard account number. Social security numbers consist of nine (9) digitsand currently, credit card account numbers have sixteen (16) digits.Seven (7) digits are displayed under the window 608 at 600, whichrepresent a partial acquisition, i.e., [0238934], of the specialinformation [980238934]. However, in some use-cases, a partialacquisition can provide a sufficient amount of information, which, whenrendered unintelligible, constructively renders unintelligible the itemof special information.

Another use-case can present a different situation. For example, in amedical services application where an item of special information is aperson's name or disease a greater degree of localization of the specialinformation within the voice recording might be required. In such acase, guard bands and variations in a correlation function betweenactivity in a user interface and the voice recording can be adjusted, asdescribed below in the figures that follow.

FIG. 7 illustrates, generally at 700, correlating activity in a userinterface with special information according to embodiments of theinvention. With reference to FIG. 7, a block 702 signifies activity in auser interface. Activity includes, but is not limited to, moving apointing device into a field of a user interface that corresponds withspecial information. Special information can include, in varioususe-cases, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, social securitynumbers, addresses, diseases, etc. At a block 704, activity in the userinterface is correlated with the input of special information.Correlating activity with the input of special information can include,but is not limited to, establishing that a trajectory of a pointingdevice, such as a mouse, is headed for a field of a user interface thatis used to input special information. Establishing a trajectory isdescribed more fully below in conjunction with FIG. 8.

In another embodiment, within a voice enabled application, an actionthat signifies that an input field is “active” can be detected and usedto correlate activity in the user interface with the input of specialinformation. As a result of the process occurring in block 704, a partof a voice recording is rendered unintelligible at a block 706.

In yet another embodiment, a first portion of a first image from a firstscreen of a user interface is compared with a second portion of a secondimage from a second screen of the user interface. The first and secondscreens of the user interface are separated in time. Analysis of imagedata separated in time provides information on changes that can occurwithin or near the fields of interest. In this example, the fields ofinterest are the fields within a user interface that are used to inputspecial information about a person.

FIG. 8 depicts activity in a user interface according to embodiments ofthe invention. With reference to FIG. 8, a composite view of at leasttwo successive screens of a user interface is shown generally at 800. Inone embodiment, a user interface 802 contains a field 804. Field 804 isused for the input of special information pertaining to a person. Firstoffset distance 806 and second offset distance 808 are designated aroundthe field 804. Activity at one or more offset distances can at times becorrelated with the entry of data into the field 804.

In this example, at a time equal to t₁, image data corresponding orrelated to the image displayed on the user interface 802 is analyzed anda pointing device location is indicated at 810. At a time equal to t₂(t₂>t₁), image data corresponding or related to the image displayed onthe user interface 802 is analyzed and the pointing device location isindicated at 812. A line 814 indicates a trajectory of the pointingdevice. The trajectory, indicated by the line 814, intersects the field804 as indicated by a dashed line 816. From the foregoing analysis itcan be determined that an agent is moving a pointing device in adirection of and possibly into the field 804 to enter specialinformation into a user interface that pertains to the person.

Various criteria can be used to establish a correlation between activitywithin a user interface and entry of special information into a field ofthe user interface. For example, different correlation coefficients canbe assigned to various activities within the user interface and thefield 804. A value of a correlation coefficient is used to renderunintelligible a part of a corresponding voice recording. For example,in one scenario, a location of a pointing device within field 804 willproduce a maximum correlation which can be assigned a value of one “1”and when the pointing device is not within the field 804 a minimumcorrelation assigns a value of zero “0.” When a correlation coefficientis equal to one “1” a part of a voice recording contemporaneouslyrelated thereto is processed to render the part unintelligible. When acorrelation coefficient is equal to zero “0” the voice recording is notrendered unintelligible.

More complex correlation functions between pointing device positions andthe field 804 can be created by considering other criteria, such as adirection of travel and a location of a pointing device. In analternative scheme, a minimum correlation (i.e., zero “0”) is assignedwhen the pointing device is located at positions furthest from the field804 or when the pointing device is located in a different field and anagent is inputting data into the different field. A maximum correlationof one “1” can occur when the pointing device is located within thefield 804. Several correlation coefficients between zero “0” and one “1”can be assigned when the pointing device (such as a mouse) is travelingbetween points of minimum and maximum correlation. For example, when apointing device is located at the position 810 a correlation coefficientof 0.5 can be assigned. When the pointing device is located at theposition 812 and has a trajectory that will intersect the field 804,such as indicated by the line 814, the correlation coefficient can bezero point eight “0.8.” After entering an area on the user interfaceindicated by the first offset distance 806 (with a trajectory calculatedto intersect the field 804) the correlation coefficient can be raised tozero point nine “0.9.” An algorithm that computes an instantaneouscorrelation between a position of a pointing device and a field (used toinput special information) can be configured to initiate processing apart of a voice recording when an instantaneous correlation coefficientrises above a predetermined threshold.

In various embodiments, within the example described directly above, thethreshold can be set at 0.8 or 0.9 to achieve acceptable accuracy withrespect to processing and rendering unintelligible a part of a voicerecording containing a person's special information. Note that using acorrelation function as described above can be used as a type of guardband that dynamically starts processing the voice recording based onactivity that is correlated with a field used for the entry of specialinformation that pertains to a person. A guard band derived from suchactivity is an “active” guard band and will depend on the logic embeddedin the algorithm used to establish the correlation coefficients and thethreshold used to initiate processing a voice recording.

Many alternative schemes exist. For example, in one embodiment, within auser interface that is designed around a series of fields that areaccessed via a “TAB” key, a maximum correlation coefficient of one “1”is assigned when an agent has “tabbed” into a designated field used forinputting special information about a person. A minimum correlationcoefficient can exist when the agent is not in a field designated forspecial information. Processing a part of a voice recording to renderthe part unintelligible will occur when the instantaneous correlationcoefficient equals one “1” and processing will not occur when theinstantaneous correlation coefficient equals zero “0.”

The user interface 802 is displayed at 850 in a state that correspondsto a time t₃ (t₃>t₂>t₁) to show the result of the special informationentered by the agent at 852. In the use-case depicted in 850, thespecial information is the name of a disease, i.e., “AIDS.” The eventsdisplayed in FIG. 8, can be correlated with a voice recording that isrecorded between a person and the agent during an interaction to maskthe name of the disease, in this example, “AIDS,” within the voicerecording.

FIG. 9 shows monitoring a user interface, generally at 900, according toembodiments of the invention. With reference to FIG. 9, an area of auser interface is selected at a block 902. The area of the userinterface selected at the block 902 can be an area within the userinterface that is designated for the input of special information thatpertains to a person. There can be one or more of such areas within auser interface designated for input of special information. The numberof such areas will depend on a particular use-case contemplated by auser interface. The area of the user interface selected at the block 902is monitored at the block 904. Based on the activity detected from themonitoring occurring at the block 904, special information pertaining toa person can be rendered unintelligible at a block 906.

Monitoring at the block 904 can occur in a variety of ways. In one wayall of the activity that occurs within a user interface can be monitoredand then filtered to extract only the activity that pertains to fieldsthat are used for inputting special information. Filtering can beperformed based on activity occurring within a particular region on auser interface, such a region is known in the art as “a window.”Monitoring can be implemented from a first software program (known alsoin the art as an application program) executing on a processor toprocess a part of a voice recording that corresponds with a person'sspecial information.

Alternatively, in various embodiments, a user interface is displayed onan information display, which results from a first software program(known also in the art as an application program) executing as a firstprocess on a processor. A second software program or applicationexecuting as a second process on the processor or a different processorcan perform the monitoring indicated at block 904 apart from any need tomodify the first software program. In the WINDOWS® family of operatingsystems such monitoring is accomplished using WINDOWS® “hooks.”

FIG. 10 depicts monitoring in a WINDOWS® environment, generally at 1000,according to embodiments of the invention. With reference to FIG. 10, aWINDOWS® operating system environment is indicated at 1002 for a dataprocessing system. A first application program 1004 contains fields 1008that are used to input special information that pertains to a person.The first application program 1004 can be a legacy agent application,and is executed as a process within 1002. Such a legacy applicationprogram can be one that is used at some existing call centers to handlecalls from people who contact a business entity. A second softwareapplication program (monitor program) 1010 is executed as a separateprocess from the process that corresponds to the legacy agentapplication 1004. The program 1010 is configured to use one or moreWINDOWS® “hooks.” The “hooks” enable the program 1010 to receiveinformation from the first application program 1004.

In one example, the WINDOWS® hook “WH_GETMESSAGE” is used by the program1010 via 1020. The hook “WH_GETMESSAGE” directs virtual-key codes and/orpointing device (mouse) coordinates or positions along with anassociated time that corresponds with the virtual-key code or the mousecoordinates to be passed via 1020 to the monitor program 1010 asindicated by a path 1020, which may originate from another program via1016. Other alternatives exist, for example the WINDOWS® hook“WH_JOURNALRECORD” and the “HC_ACTION” hook code 1030 will allow theprogram 1010 to receive virtual-key codes and/or pointing device (mouse)positions along with associated times that corresponds with the keysand/or the mouse coordinates as indicated by a path 1034, which mayoriginate from another program via 1032.

Special information 1006 input into one of the fields 1008 results inthe program 1010 receiving times (via for example, 1016 and 1020 or 1032and 1034) associated with activity in the user interface thatcorresponds to the input of a person's special information by an agent.The times so obtained can be sent to the voice recording process 1022.The voice recording process 1022 can use the times corresponding to thespecial information to process the voice recording, thereby renderingparts of a voice recording that correspond to the special informationunintelligible.

In some embodiments, a voice recording process 1024 exists outside ofthe WINDOWS® operating system environment 1002. In such a configuration,the times corresponding to the input of special information are sent via1023 to the voice recording process 1024 where parts of the voicerecording are processed to render the special information containedtherein unintelligible.

Note that embodiments of the invention are employed in a variety ofhardware/software architectures, as was described in conjunction withthe preceding figures. Within these varied architectures, a time baseused for a voice recording system and a time base used for input ofspecial information to a data processing system may not be the same,multiple clocks can be employed and an offset may exist between them. Inorder to accurately use times that correspond to user interface activityduring the processing of a voice recording file it may be necessary tomeasure the offset between the two or more time bases. Such ameasurement is useful when a voice recording system associates absolutetime with a recording, since a data processing system usually reports orattempts to report (as limited by inherent inaccuracies) absolute timewith associated keyboard and pointing device messages.

Voice recording systems that do not associate absolute time with a voicerecording will need to be marked with an artifact that is relatable to atime base used by a data processing system used to enter the specialinformation. The artifact corresponds with a known time. Measuring fromthe artifact permits the times associated with other locations withinthe voice recording to be correlated with times generated by the dataprocessing system. In one embodiment, an artifact is recorded in a voicerecording when a first activity associated with an input of specialinformation occurs. In another embodiment, an artifact is recorded in avoice recording when a first activity associated with an input of anyinformation pertaining to a person occurs. In yet another embodiment, anartifact is recorded in a voice recording when a person connects with anagent at a call center and a call is initiated.

In systems with multiple clocks or even in systems with a single clockit may be desirable to calibrate the clock(s) to a standard timereference such as an atomic clock. A standard time reference obtainedfrom an atomic clock is accessible over the Internet and can be used forcalibration by the clock(s) in the systems described herein when aconnection to the Internet is available. In other instances, networksthat are not connected to the Internet can maintain a reference clockthat can be used for the purpose of calibration of individual clocks.

When a voice recording system, such as 1022, is operating within theWINDOWS® operating system environment 1002, a common system clock isavailable for both the voice recording process 1022 and the data entryevents 1008 occurring within the user interface; thus the problem of anoffset does not exist. In such a case, times obtained from the hooksdescribed above can be used directly to process a voice recording;thereby rendering a part(s) of the voice recording corresponding to thespecial information unintelligible.

FIG. 11 illustrates, generally at 1100, reprocessing a voice recordingaccording to embodiments of the invention. As described above, a voicerecording is processed to render locations within the voice recordingthat correspond to utterances of special information unintelligible.Reprocessing of these portions of the voice recording, to render themintelligible, can be performed when a reversible process is used torender the portions of the voice recording unintelligible. A reversibleprocess is a process such as an encryption that is performed with a keyso that a decryption can be performed to recover the originalinformation that was previously encrypted. Processes forencryption/decryption utilizing keys are known to those of skill in theart and can be used within the various embodiments described herein.

With reference to FIG. 11, reprocessing voice recordings is describedwith respect to two entities, entity 1 and entity 2, generally at 1100.Entity 1 and entity 2 have different relationships with respect to theinformation contained within the voice recording. As described above, avoice recording 1102 is obtained from an interaction between a personand an interface of a business entity. The voice recording 1102 containsspecial information that entity 1 has a right to access; however, forthe purpose of this description, entity 2 has a different relationshipto the special information. In one or more embodiments, the relationshipof entity 2 to the special information is one of having less right toaccess the special information than entity 1 has. In this example, thespecial information is rendered unintelligible, at block 1104. Block1106 identifies a general realm where the special information isintelligible within the voice recording and the special informationwithin the voice recording is under the control or agency of entity 1.When the voice recording flows outside of block 1106 the specialinformation is rendered unintelligible before reaching entity 2 at block1108.

Entity 2 receives a processed voice recording at block 1108. Entity 2can use the processed voice recording in a variety of ways. For example,some of the ways are, but are not limited to, analysis of the processedvoice recordings, fulfillment of an order for goods or services, etc.Analyses of the processed voice recording can have various purposes,such as for establishing a quality of service rendered, estimatingcompetence of the interface of the business entity used to interact withthe person who utters the special information, etc. Other purposesinclude, but are not limited to, recommending a change to one or morefunctions of the business. Such changes can include, for example,improving an efficiency of an interface between a business entity andpeople who interact with the business entity.

Entity 2 may determine that there is some need to reprocess theprocessed voice recording. For example, a problem with an unintelligibleportion of a processed voice recording is found at 1109. Such a problemcould be that too much of the voice recording was renderedunintelligible during the initial processing or that too little of thevoice recording was rendered unintelligible during the initialprocessing. In such instances, the processed voice recording is sentback to entity 1 at block 1114 for reprocessing at block 1104. If areversible process was used to process the portion of the voicerecording that has the problem, entity 1 reverses the process and takesappropriate action to correct the problem with the portion of the voicerecording that was rendered unintelligible. Appropriate action caninvolve reprocessing the portion of the voice recording at issue withdifferent processing parameters. Different processing parameters can beapplied to the voice recording, such as time window width, guard band(s)width, correlation adjustments, etc.

The reprocessed voice recording is transferred back to entity 2 at block1108. If there is no need for further reprocessing, the voice recordingis passed to block 1112, via path 1110, where entity 2 can operate onthe processed or reprocessed voice recording. The operations(alternatively referred to as analysis) can vary according to theuse-case of interest as described above.

Entity 2 can function in a variety of roles with respect to the voicerecording, such as but not limited to, an agent or a contractor forentity 1, various contractual relationships can exist between entity 1and entity 2. Entity 2 can have varying degrees of access to the specialinformation contained within the voice recording depending on thecontractual relationship between entity 1 and entity 2.

In the arrangement described above, entity 1 maintains control of akey(s) used for the processing (encryption/decryption). Due to entity2's different or limited relationship to the special information, entity2 does not have access to the key(s) and cannot reprocess the voicerecording. Such an arrangement provides security and limited access tothe special information contained within the voice recording. It will benoted that entity 1 can authorize another entity, such as an entity 3(not shown) to reprocess the voice recording. In such a case, the thirdparty can be entrusted with a key(s) needed to process (encrypt/decrypt)the voice recordings. Note that a contractual relationship can existbetween entity 1 and entity 3 that could be different from a contractualrelationship between entity 1 and entity 2.

FIG. 12 illustrates, generally at 1200, information and value flowaccording to embodiments of the invention. With reference to FIG. 12, anentity A, indicated at 1202, has under its control voice recordings 1201that contain special information obtained from a human(s) 1203. Acontractual relationship(s) can exist between the human(s) 1203 and theentity A 1202. Note that the contractual relationship(s) will reflectterms associated with a use-case. As described above, specialinformation can be confidential information, secret information, privateinformation, etc., information that is generally considered not to beappropriate or lawful for all entities to access or possess. The specialinformation is rendered unintelligible at block 1208.

Alternatively, an entity B, indicated at 1204, can process the voicerecordings 1212 to render unintelligible the special informationcontained therein. In some embodiments, the entity B will associate anidentifier with a voice recording that contains special information (asdescribed above in conjunction with the preceding figures). In somecases, the identifier will mark or flag a voice recording, therebyproviding notice of special information, without rendering the specialinformation, contained therein, unintelligible. Such marking can alsoprovide notice that a voice recording is “clean” and does not containspecial information. A contractual relationship can exist between theentity A 1202 and the entity B 1204. In one embodiment, informationflows from the entity A 1202 to the entity B 1204 along a path 1210.Value 1216 can flow from the entity A 1202 to the entity B 1204 toprovide compensation for the processing performed by the entity B 1204on the voice recordings. In one or more embodiments, value 1216 takesthe form of a debit or a credit that is transferred in exchange forservices provided by the entity B 1204. An example of a debit is aninvoice or a bill to show what is owed and an example of a credit ispayment in the form of valuable consideration.

A contractual relationship can exist between the entity B 1204 and theentity C 1206 and a contractual relationship can exist between theentity C 1206 and the entity A 1202. In one embodiment, the processedvoice recordings can flow from the entity B 1204 along various paths toone or more entities, such as the entity C 1206 and/or the entity A1202. The processed voice recordings can flow as information 1214 to anentity C at 1206. In one embodiment, the entity C 1206 can performoperations (analysis) on the processed voice recordings as previouslydescribed. The operations can vary according to the use-case of interestas described above. Such operations can include, but are not limited to,performing analysis on the quality of service provided by an agentduring a customer-agent interaction, etc. Output from the operationsperformed by the entity C 1206, on the voice recordings, can flow asitem 1226 to the entity A 1202. The entity C 1206 can also function as adata custodian, thereby providing storage of the processed voicerecordings. The processed voice recordings 1212 can flow as item 1215 tothe entity A 1202.

In one embodiment, the processed voice recordings can flow as item 1224from the entity A 1202 to the entity C 1206. The entity C 1206 canperform operations on the processed voice recordings as previouslydescribed. Value 1220 can flow from the entity A 1202 to the entity C1206 and the item 1226 rendered by the entity C 1206 can flow to theentity A 1202. In exchange for the services/goods rendered by the entityC 1206, value 1220 can flow from the entity A 1202 to the entity C 1206.Note that item 1215, item 1224, and item 1226 can be provided in variousforms or formats. Such forms or formats include, but are not limited to,printed, written, video, audio, multimedia, live presentation, oralcommunication, electronic, etc.

In various embodiments, control and beneficial use of a systemimplemented as described in this description of embodiments, inure tothe benefit of a person who uses such a system to contact a businessentity. The person benefits from the enhanced security afforded to theperson's special information, as well as benefiting from the efficiency,and improved business practices that the business entity is capable ofproviding to the person. Thus, a person uses such a system to his or herbenefit and controls the system by initiating an interaction with abusiness. In one or more embodiments, such an interaction is in the formof a voice communication, i.e., a call.

In controlling a system, a person (a caller) initiates an interaction (acall) with a business, thereby, activating the system to obtain aservice, services, a good, goods, etc. which is the object of the callso placed with the business, while benefiting from the protectionafforded to the person's special information. The person is in controlof the interaction with the business and can terminate the interactionat will. Thus, the person controls the system.

In various embodiments, the systems described in this description ofembodiments provide tools that a business entity can use to improvevarious aspects of its business operations. In one or more embodiments,beneficial use of such systems can also inure to the business entity. Inone example, processing a speech signal to render unintelligible aperson's special information allows a business entity to comply withvarious laws that pertain to such information, while simultaneouslyallowing the business entity to improve or manage itself moreeffectively. Such benefit, e.g., improvement or management isaccomplished, for example, through application of the processed voicerecordings as embodied in the analysis thereof. Analysis of(alternatively referred to as operations on) the processed voicerecordings can be fed back to a business in various forms or formats.Such forms or formats include, but are not limited to, printed, written,video, audio, multimedia, live presentation, oral communication,electronic, etc.

Alternatively, or in addition to analysis provided to a business by aseparate entity, a business may choose to perform its own analysis onthe processed voice recordings. Analysis or operations on processedvoice recordings, as used within this detailed description ofembodiments, is to be afforded broad meaning, including but not limitedto, establishing a quality of service rendered during an interactionbetween an interface of a business and a person. Analysis also includes,but is not limited to, assessing the accuracy of service provided, goodsprovided, etc. by an interface of a business and a person. As notedpreviously, the interface of a business is either a human agent or anelectronic agent.

Note that a speech signal can exist in a variety of forms, such as astatic form as in a voice recording or a dynamic form as in an acousticwave uttered by a human, data in transit within a circuit, system,network, etc. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that thetechniques and apparatuses described herein are applicable to processinga [speech signal as contained in a] voice recording as well as toprocessing a speech signal input into a system, where the speech signalis processed before the voice recording is created. Such processing canbe performed, for example, in real-time or near real-time, as describedabove, but is not limited to these cases. Data can exist in digitalform, in analog form or can be transformed from one form to anotheraccording to a particular implementation. Furthermore, the speech signalcan be processed in real-time, near real-time or can be time-delayed bybuffering, etc. before processing to render unintelligible a person'sspecial information.

For purposes of discussing and understanding embodiments of theinvention described herein, it is to be understood that various termsare used by those knowledgeable in the art to describe techniques andapproaches. Furthermore, in this description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention presented.It will be evident, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art thatembodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoidobscuring embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are describedin sufficient detail to enable those of ordinary skill in the art topractice the invention, and it is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical,and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of theembodiments of the invention described.

Some portions of the description may be presented in terms of algorithmsand symbolic representations of operations on, for example, data bitswithin a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those of ordinary skill in thedata processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of theirwork to others of ordinary skill in the art. An algorithm is here, andgenerally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of acts leading toa desired result. The acts are those requiring physical manipulations ofphysical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantitiestake the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the discussion, it isappreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing termssuch as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or“displaying” or the like, can refer to the action and processes of acomputer system, or similar electronic computing device, thatmanipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic)quantities within the computer system's registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within thecomputer system memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission, or display devices.

An apparatus for performing the operations herein can implementembodiments of the invention. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computer, selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limitedto, any type of disk including floppy disks, hard disks, optical disks,Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), compact disk-read only memories (CD-ROMs),and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs), electrically programmable read-only memories (EPROM)s,electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), FLASHmemories, magnetic or optical cards, etc., or any type of media suitablefor storing electronic instructions either local to the computer orremote to the computer.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purposesystems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specializedapparatus to perform the required method. For example, any of themethods according to embodiments of the invention can be implemented inhard-wired circuitry, by programming a general-purpose processor, or byany combination of hardware and software. One of ordinary skill in theart will immediately appreciate that embodiments of the invention can bepracticed with computer system configurations other than thosedescribed, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, digitalsignal processing (DSP) devices, set top boxes, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments of theinvention can also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network.

The methods described within embodiments of the invention may beimplemented using computer software. If written in a programminglanguage conforming to a recognized standard, sequences of instructionsdesigned to implement the methods can be compiled for execution on avariety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety ofoperating systems. In addition, the embodiments of the inventionpresented are not described with reference to any particular programminglanguage. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languagesmay be used to implement the teachings of the embodiments of theinvention as described herein. Furthermore, it is common in the art tospeak of software, in one form or another (e.g., program, procedure,application, driver, . . . ), as taking an action or causing a result.Such expressions are merely a shorthand way of saying that execution ofthe software by a computer causes the processor of the computer toperform an action or produce a result.

It is to be understood that various terms and techniques are used bythose knowledgeable in the art to describe communications, protocols,applications, implementations, mechanisms, etc. One such technique isthe description of an implementation of a technique in terms of analgorithm or mathematical expression. That is, while the technique maybe, for example, implemented as executing code on a computer, theexpression of that technique may be more aptly and succinctly conveyedand communicated as a formula, algorithm, or mathematical expression.Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize a block denotingA+B=C as an additive function whose implementation in hardware and/orsoftware would take two inputs (A and B) and produce a summation output(C). Thus, the use of formula, algorithm, or mathematical expression asdescriptions is to be understood as having a physical embodiment in atleast hardware and/or software (such as a computer system in which thetechniques described in embodiments of the invention may be practiced aswell as implemented as an embodiment thereof).

A machine-readable medium is understood to include any mechanism forstoring or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine(e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes readonly memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storagemedia; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.

As used in this description, “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” orsimilar phrases mean that the feature(s) being described is included inat least one embodiment of the invention. References to “one embodiment”in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment;however, neither are such embodiments mutually exclusive. Nor does “oneembodiment” imply that there is but a single embodiment of theinvention. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in“one embodiment” may also be included in other embodiments. Thus, theinvention may include a variety of combinations and/or integrations ofthe embodiments described herein.

While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,those of skill in the art will recognize that the invention is notlimited to the embodiments described, but can be practiced withmodification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative insteadof limiting.

1. A method comprising the steps of: receiving by a first entity, aspeech signal that is in electronic form and results from an interactionbetween a person and the first entity; identifying special informationregarding the person within the speech signal and renderingunintelligible the special information by generating a masked voicerecording; reprocessing by the first entity, the masked voice recording,comprising: transmitting the masked voice recording to another entityand receiving the masked voice recording back from the other entity whena problem exists with the masked voice recording; and rendering thespecial information in the masked voice recording intelligible andrerendering the special information unintelligible, wherein the stepsare performed by a processor.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: assigning an identifier based on the determining to thespeech signal.
 3. A method of claim 1, wherein the determining furthercomprises: deriving a marker from the interaction between the person andan agent of the business entity and the agent's user interface; andlocating, with the marker, a part of a speech signal that corresponds toa portion of the person's special information.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein special information is selected from the group consisting ofconfidential information, sensitive information, and privateinformation.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifiercommunicates information pertaining to the person's special information.6. The method of claim 1, wherein a guard band is utilized during therendering.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the agent is a live person.8. The method of claim 2, wherein the agent is an automated process. 9.The method of claim 3, further comprising: analyzing the voice recordingto provide feedback to the business based on the interaction.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the feedback is in a form selected from thegroup consisting of print, audio, video, electronic, and multimedia. 11.An apparatus comprising; a storage device storing at least one speechsignal that results from an interaction between a person and an agent ofa business an input to receive by the business, the speech signal; and aprocessor to identify special information regarding the person withinthe speech signal, to render the special information unintelligible bygenerating a masked voice recording; and to reprocess the masked voicerecording by transmitting the voice recording to another businessentity, by receiving the masked voice recording back from the otherbusiness entity when a problem exists with the masked voice recording,by rendering the special information in the masked voice recordingintelligible, and by rerendering the special information unintelligible.12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: a report, the reportutilizes information contained within the speech signal and the reportcommunicates a quality of service provided by the agent.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the report communicates competency of theagent.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the report communicatesaccuracy of a reply given to the person by the agent.
 15. The apparatusof claim 12, wherein analysis of the speech signal is performed under acontract between the business and the other business entity.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein the business has access to the report.17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the business makes a change inits operations utilizing information contained within the report. 18.The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the business analyzes the speechsignal to determine a quality of service provided by the agent duringthe interaction.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the businessmakes a change in its operations based on an analysis of the speechsignal.
 20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the report is in a formatselected from the group consisting of print, electronic, and storeddata.
 21. A system to protect a person's special information while theperson interacts with a business, comprising: a communications deviceoperable by a person; a communications network configured to providecommunications between the communications device and an interface ofbusiness; and a data processing system configured to: receive by thebusiness, a speech signal during the communications; identify specialinformation regarding the person within the speech signal; assign amarker to the speech signal; locate with the marker a part of a speechsignal that corresponds to a portion of the person's specialinformation; render the special information unintelligible by generatinga masked voice recording; reprocess the masked voice recording bytransmitting the masked voice recording to another business, byreceiving the masked voice recording back from the other business when aproblem exists with the masked voice recording, by rendering the specialinformation in the masked voice recording intelligible, and byrerendering the special information unintelligible.
 22. The system ofclaim 21, wherein the interface of the business is selected from thegroup consisting of a person, and an electronic agent.
 23. The system ofclaim 21, wherein the interaction with the business is initiated by theperson.
 24. The system of claim 21, wherein the business initiates theinteraction with the person.
 25. The system of claim 21, wherein theperson obtains a benefit from the business during the interaction, andthe benefit is selected from the group consisting of support, service,and property.
 26. The system of claim 21, wherein the speech signal isin a form of a voice recording.
 27. The system of claim 21, wherein thespeech signal is received as a data input apart from a voice recording.28. The system of claim 27, wherein the data input is of a type selectedfrom the group consisting of real-time, nearly real-time, and timedelayed.